There's not much to say here, but the FCC has just approved a BlackBerry Bold 9700 with AWS bands. Clearly, this is the T-Mobile Bold 9700. If you're interested you can check out the official FCC filing here.

Yesterday, Best Buy showed off that they have exclusivity rights on Nokia's overpriced Booklet 3G netbook. It will be running Windows 7 32-bit and you'll be stuck with 1GB of RAM - since it's smoldered on there. Anyways, you can pre-order the Booklet 3G on Best Buy's website here.

Acer has just released their latest desktop monitor and it's the 24-inch S243HL. This monitor utilizes a TN panel and features: an LED-backlit display, a 8,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio (1,000:1 real contrast ratio), a 2ms response time, a Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) resolution, two HDMI inputs, and one VGA input. In the box there's an HDMI-to-DVI adapter, and a 2W speaker system.

This monitor should be available in Japan for the equivalent of $360 USD. However, we're expecting this monitor to launch in North America and Europe pretty soon.

Over in the UK, Vodafone now has the BlackBerry Bold 9700 available for pre-order, so check it out on their website here. Of course, it's free on contract, but you'll have to pay at least L35 ($57 USD) on a 2-year contract and L40 ($66 USD) on an 18-month contract. And yes, it looks like it won't be released as the Bold 2.

Last week a small roadmap of Motorola's upcoming handsets were leaked out and this was one of them. The Motorola Zeppelin, which is expected to launch in Q1 2010 according to the roadmap, looks like it will running Android which is always a great thing. Other specs include: a 5MP camera with a flash, a 3.1-inch display [likely touchscreen] with a 320 x 480 resolution, WiFi support, an HDMI output, and dual SIM card slots. Unfortunately, it looks like this handset is headed to China, so we might not see it hit North America. But, I'm sure we'll be satisfied if we get the Motorola Droid sometime soon. Waddaya say Verizon?

A new touchscreen Samsung handset was spotted in Russia recently and it has been revealed to be the i6330. It's likely headed to China via China Mobile first - since it clearly has the China Mobile logo at the top of the handset. Unfortunately, the details on this handset are scarce right now, but we do know that it has: a 3.2MP camera, 3G / TD-SCDMA connectivity, and a design on the back that reminds me of snake skin. The release details haven't been mentioned yet.

It looks like Best Buy has slashed the price of the Android-based HTC Dream in Canada as much as they could. They are now offering the Dream for free (in-stores) on a 3-year contract and they're even throwing in a free car charger which costs $40 CAD. Unfortunately, you'll have to fork over at least $45 monthly for Rogers' voice and data plan.

The Dell Latitude XT2 XFR tablet looks like it has just passed the FCC. Dell hasn't officially announced this tablet, so we'll just have to be patient for this rugged tablet - Dell's first. We don't know the specs right now, but we're hearing that it'll have integrated 3G connectivity. In the picture above it is running Windows Vista, but I'm certain that it'll be launched with Windows 7 on-board.

In Japan, Lenovo made the Ideapad U150 all official. The specs are as follows: an 11.6-inch display with a 1,366 x 768 resolution, an Intel Core 2 Duo ULV SU2300 1.2GHz CPU, a GS45 Express chipset with integrated GMA 4500MHD graphics, 2GB of DDR3 RAM (up to 8GB), a shock-proof 250GB HDD, an integrated 1.3MP camera, a card reader, two USB 2.0 ports, a USB / eSATA port, Ethernet / HDMI / VGA ports, WiFi 802.11 n / Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR support, a multitouch trackpad, Windows 7 Home Premium (32-bit), and a 6-cell battery that should last 7 hours. This notebook will be available in black and weighs 1.5kg (3.3 pounds). The price hasn't been mentioned but we should hear what it is soon - at least in Japanese currency.

Update on October 23rd: According to Netbooked, the Lenovo IdeaPad U150 notebook is now available for as low as $499 on their official US website here.

If you registered early for the Xbox 360's social integration then you should note have the Xbox Live Update Preview. When you log-on to Xbox Live it tells you to update. If you didn't get an invite yet, then be patient because Microsoft will be rolling out more invites as the days go by. This update will give you Facebook / Twitter / Last.fm integration and, even better, 1080p instant-on streaming.

As you can see in the photo above, it clearly states that the BlackBerry Storm 2 will be launching on October 28th, which is just five days away. It's unconfirmed at the time and, frankly, I'm getting tired of all of the launch date rumours we're hearing about the Verizon Storm 2 already.

On Verizon's website they now have a BlackBerry Storm 2 emulator that you can play around with. Or course, this signals off that the launch could be very, very soon. Maybe October 28th is really the day. To pass the time, you can check out the emulator here.

Update: According to Engadget, the photo below clearly states that the Storm 2 will be available on Verizon starting on the 28th. To make news even better, it'll be be available for $179.99 USD on a 2-year contract after a $100 mail-in rebate. Other pricings include $249.99 USD on a 1-year contract after a $100 mail-in rebate or contract-free for $539.99 USD. Could this be real?

The Android-based Samsung I5700 Galaxy Lite (Spica) that we all know and love has been officially announced in Russia. They'll be launching this handset as the Samsung Galaxy Spica and it will be available for 14,000 rubies (around $480 USD) when it launches over there next month (November). The Galaxy Spica is being outed with what we already know: a 3.2-inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display, an 800MHz CPU, a 3.2MP camera, 128MB of RAM, a microSDHC card slot, a digital compass / GPS support, and a 1,500 mAh battery.

In Taiwan Acer has announced their latest tablet notebook, the Aspire 1420P. The Acer Aspire 1420P has: an 11.6-inch multitouch display with a 1,366 x 768 resolution, a GS45 chipset, integrated GMA 4500MHD graphics, 4GB of RAM (up to 8GB), a card reader, audio jacks, three USB / HDMI / VGA / Ethernet ports, an integrated webcam, WiFi 802.11n / Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR support, optional WWAN / 3G connectivity, and a 6-cell battery that should last 8 hours. This notebook will be available in black, blue, and red with Windows 7 pre-installed. It's not available yet, but this should be hitting all markets soon.

Of course, Acer wasn't going to be missing from the Windows 7 launch party. Last night, we got our first look of the Aspire Z5610 all in one PC live in the flesh. It looks like it is a bit flashy with those lights right where the stand hits the desk. Besides that, we're hearing reports of this PC being available in France next week, on October 30. Price hasn't been determined yet.

LG has just announced their latest ultrathin notebook, this time it's the X-Note T380. This notebook was made official yesterday during the official Windows 7 launch. The specs include: a 13.3-inch display, an Intel Core 2 Duo SU3700 ULV CPU, integrated GMA 4500MHD graphics, 4GB of DDR2 RAM, a 500GB HDD, WiFi 802.11 a/g/n, and Windows 7 Home Premium. The release details haven't been mentioned, but I'm sure it'll be here by the time the year ends.

Just in case you were still having doubts on Canada's Telus launching the LG BL40 (I know I was) it looks like they've just announced it. At LG's Fashion Week event last night, this ad was spotted there and they officially announced that they would be launching the "New Chocolate" aka the LG BL40. They'll have exclusivity rights on this handset - similar to Bell and the N97. It's definitely a beauty.

Someone running Motorola's website was quick to pull the trigger late last night. A couple of blogs last night spotted an official webpage for the upcoming Motorola Droid that is headed to Verizon in the next couple of weeks - of course, the webpage has been pulled since then. The site did reveal some juicy information though. A 3.7-inch touchscreen display with a 480 x 854 resolution (16:9 aspect ratio), a 5MP AF camera, a 16GB microSD card pre-installed, a 550MHz CPU, and Android 2.0 "Eclair". Of course, this rules out the so-called Q2 release date for that. The full spec sheet is below and if you don't believe me there's also a picture below with everything you need to know.

With the launch of Windows 7, both Microsoft and Apple have released new ads. Of course, Microsoft promotes their own OS and Apple bashes it. Check out this link for three of Microsoft's ads and this link for three of Apple's new "Get a Mac" ads. And yes, I've embedded one of the Microsoft ads above.

Even though Apple bashes Microsoft's OS, they'll be fully supporting it by the end of this year with Boot Camp.

According to the various reports, WinMo 6.5.1 polishes up the recently released WinMo 6.5 fairly nicely and it could be headed to the public pretty soon - at least we can hope. WinMo 6.5.1 - or whatever it's called - appears to be just a bit more touch-friendly which is always good.

Microsoft's CEO, Steve Ballmer, has confirmed that there will be Zune [HD] integration in Windows Mobile 7. That is all.

There's no news about this WiBro-capable handset (WiMAX in Korea), but it looks like these are the first real pictures of the Samsung M8400. Last week we got a horrible render of this handset and we can finally erase that out of our minds and fill it in with this one. Check out the link below for a couple more photos.

The CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer, himself has somewhat confirmed that the Xbox 360 will be getting Blu-ray capabilities soon - or at least that's what we think. In an interview with Gizmodo, Steve Ballmer said, "Well I don't know if we need to put Blu-ray in there - you'll be able to get Blu-ray drives as accessories." This could mean that companies are planning on making an external Blu-ray drive specifically for the Xbox 360. Let's hope that we hear more about this in the future, hopefully CES 2010.

Update on October 23rd: According to Kotaku, it looks like Steve Ballmer's words were "poorly chosen" because Microsoft has just mentioned that they have absolutely no intentions on bringing Blu-ray to the Xbox 360. This makes a lot more sense, but maybe it's just a cover up.